My Top 10 Christmas Songs!

So, Blogmas finally got to me this past weekend. I tried my hardest to make sure I wouldn’t run behind, but the stress of trying to complete an essay as well as a first draft of my dissertation meant that everything from my blog to writing social media taglines for external projects went completely out the window. I haven’t even started looking into purchasing Christmas presents yet, and I go home in five days! I was hoping to get a chance to just write two posts and backdate one of them, but alas, I have decided to admit defeat to the Blogmas Gods and just skip a day. So if you’ve noticed that day 9 seems to be missing from my list, that’s why!

ANYWAY. Today I thought I’d write up a list of my top 10 favourite Christmas songs, because they’ve been about the only thing to get me through this hellish weekend of uni work. I know, I know – everyone’s doing these kinds of posts, and I’ve done SO many lists so far, but it’s happening…

#10 – Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody

I recall insisting that this song was played on repeat upon my mum purchasing a Christmas CD for the car a number of years ago. Alas, my love for it has dwindled over the years, with an on/off relationship prevailing. This year it’s on.

#9 – The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York

I used to love this song so much that I even bought it on iTunes for my iPod Nano – remember those days? But as the years have gone on, it’s sadly started to descend further down my list just through repeated listening… though I still feel it can’t come off the list completely, so here it is at number 9.

#8 – Paul McCartney – Pipes of Peace

I feel like this song is vastly underrated when it comes to pitting festive tunes against each other. While this isn’t exactly a total bop, I always find myself getting a little emotional whenever I hear it, and I don’t believe I’ve ever been able to make myself skip it when it comes on.

#7 – Wizzard – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

I feel like I couldn’t make a list and not include this song on it? This has provided the soundtrack to my Christmas celebrations from primary school to a few weeks ago when I got drunk on our cheer team Christmas night out and sang it on karaoke. Different times, same nostalgic feels.

#6 – Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmastime

I don’t know what exactly it is that I like about this song so much every year, but it reminds me of school Christmas parties and opening presents on Christmas morning from years gone by, so it’s pretty high up.

#5 – Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas

Formerly one of my least-liked Christmas songs, I finally started appreciating this one when I moved away from home to Glasgow and therefore had to travel back for Christmas every year. Hearing it reminds me that it’s nearly time to go home, and it makes me so excited!

#4 – Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You

TALK ABOUT AN UPSET. That’s right, it’s not my #1 choice. I know it’s supposedly everyone’s favourite, and it was mine for a while, but it’s so overplayed at this stage that I’ve slowly become sick of it. Not sick enough to knock it right down the list too drastically, but that little “sparkly” opening puts a little bit of dread inside me. Then I’ll sing along in quite a jovial manner, and so that’s why it’s still quite high up the list. Tah-dah.

#3 – Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas?

It’s not the cheeriest song in the world, but I’m well-known for singing this song in June due to how much I love it. I’ve been known to have even burst into song while paddling on a beach in Turkey, although I think that was just to try and be a pain to everyone by singing Christmas songs. Anyway, I really like this song. Not a fan of the most recent version, however I did believe growing up that the only version was the 2004 release with Jamelia and Chris Martin in it so that one’s definitely my favourite incarnation. Soz. (Although seemingly no existence on YouTube? Whaaaat)

#2 – John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

This is one of the few Christmas songs that actually makes me go “oh wow, it’s Christmas time” when I hear it for the first time of the year. Not entirely sure why, but the others all seem to just go over my head when I hear them. Maybe it’s because John’s lyrical choice makes me realise that the year’s nearly over and what have I done? And also it’s just a nice wee song.

#1 – Coldplay – Christmas Lights

As I said in my “The Christmas Tag” post last week, this has been my favourite Christmas song for a number of years. It got released at a time where I was really down about everything, and the song was just so gentle and easy to listen to that it eventually became my song of choice that year, and it’s just really lovely to reflect on in the current day where everything’s turned out okay. I didn’t mean for this to turn into such a feeling-y finish to the post, but that’s why it’s my number 1!